Plundering the Heavens - Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Audacious
Translator: ActiasMyriea
In the river stream, Zhao looked distorted as his body, face, and even the inside of his screaming
mouth were all densely filled with those tiny red fish. They devoured his skin and flesh a tenth
of an inch at a time while Zhao swung his fists in an attempt to fight them off, leaving the
water unsettled. This did not change the outcome, however, and his screaming had ceased
along with the sight of him altogether before long.
“What… what just happened?” Startled, Qian took two steps backwards. He was still trying to
understand what he had just seen of Zhao.
“Little Shidi Fang, too… he’d rather die than come with us?” Lyu’s face was pale and his pupils
were full of fear as his body shivered. It was especially bad since he remembered Fang Xing had
been standing right next to him in the beginning before smiling at him and moving towards
Zhao instead. It was likely that Fang Xing had wanted to take Lyu with him at first before
remembering that Lyu had been the nicest to him out of the entire party. To Lyu, Zhao had
become the victim to die alongside Fang Xing instead of him.
Even an experienced cultivator like Lyu was frightened by such a thought.
“Wait, that brat is not dead! Look at the ripples!” All of a sudden, a clear shout from Hou Qing
focused both Qian and Lyu’s attentions. There was a clear line of ripples swimming towards the
other side of the riverbank at a nimble speed.
“Why is he okay?” Qian cried out in disbelief.
Even Hou Qing could not think of an answer to Qian’s question. Instead, he turned and looked
curiously at Lyu. Hou Qing was suspicious of Lyu’s softness towards Fang Xing and was worried
that he might have privately informed Fang Xing on some methods of avoiding these Fanged
Minnows.
Lyu was no less startled than everyone else. Bewildered, he locked his eyebrows in deep thought
and—as if suddenly recalling something—Lyu’s face grew pale as he muttered to himself. “Such
knowledge… such courage… such audacity….”
“What the f*ck are you talking about? Hurry and tell us how the hell he got away from those
fish!” Qian impatiently cursed.
With bitterness, Lyu gave his response, “Remember the swamp? He was covered in its thick
mud and stench. The stench was so strong that it covered up his own smell, so the Fanged
Minnows didn’t attack him first. But he also knew that he would run the risk of having his mud
and stench washed off before he would reach the other side, so he took Zhao along with him.
The attention would then be on Zhao and he would be a lot safer from being preyed upon.”
“He— At his age? He had thought of this much?” Qian looked on in disbelief at Lyu’s
explanation. It made sense, but Fang Xing was just a child; there could be no way….
On the contrary, Hou Qing believed Lyu’s words and smiled with a sigh. “There’s no other
explanation for this, then. I have been wondering this whole time why he was so sensible and
good like a normal child his age. It was too different from the image Shidi Liu had described to

me. You have to remember that he was someone who stabbed a person twice his age within a
heartbeat.”
Although Hou Qing had appeared to take it easy on Fang Xing throughout the entirety of the
journey, he had in fact been keeping a close watch on Fang Xing at all times. Despite Hou Qing
trying his best to prevent it, Fang Xing had still managed to escape from them after they’d
entered Mount Miasma.
But then again, even if Hou Qing were given another chance, the boy might still manage to
escape from him.
The horrors of those Fanged Minnows were evident to everyone present. Who else would dare
to jump right into a body of water—knowing of their existence—with just some mud slapped on
their skin? Even the knowledgeable Lyu would not, to say nothing of the others.

The line of ripples soon arrived at the other side of the river, a small head popping out of the
water to cautiously observe the surroundings and confirm his safety. With a leap, he jumped
out of the water before dusting off the remaining mud and wringing away the water from his
robe. He then turned to see the rest of the party watching him and gave a smile, though the
three on the other side of the river felt a sense of cruelty from that pure, innocent expression.
Who else could it have been other than Fang Xing?
Lyu’s explanation of Fang Xing’s plan was not wrong. Fang Xing did indeed take advantage of
the stench and mud of the swamp as a cover before daring to dive right in. Fang Xing might be
brave, but he would not casually gamble away his life. What Lyu did not take into consideration
was the fact that the tree veins touching the swamp had once been struck by lightning. This
meant the swamp had actually been converted into the elemental energy of Yang[1], and since
the Fanged Minnows in the river were of the Yin element, smearing Yang mud all over himself
would not only guarantee his own scent would be covered, but also that he would be able to
repel the fish and keep them a safe distance away.
After all, no matter how thick the layer of mud he covered himself in was, the water could easily
wash it away. Without such a double assurance, it was easy to lose his life to these dangerous
creatures.
“Shixiong Hou, I’ve just remembered I have to do something else, so I regrettably can no longer
help you with your beast-slaying business. Do take care, though!” Fang Xing sat on the
riverbank across from the party, grinning as he wrung his robe one last time before waving to
Hou Qing.
This was the widest part of the stream and both of the riverbanks were over a hundred feet
away from each other. If somebody had managed to break into tier four, a basic flying skill
would have overcome such a distance, but with tier three Hou Qing could at most fly with his
sword for half of the distance. With this, Fang Xing was not worried at all.
Hou Qing gave a cold reply, “If you have to go, you do that. Why did you take Shidi Zhao with
you? Did you know you’ve broken the sect rule by murdering a fellow sect disciple? We’ll see
whether the sect will still keep you after all of your treacherous acts!” Hou Qing was calm. With
just a few phrases, he had turned Fang Xing into a murderer of their fellow sect disciple: a
traitor of the Qing-Yun Sect.
As Fang Xing began to grow infuriated, curses started to spill out that were creative beyond
most imagination. “F*ck your mother’s balls, you b*stard! How dare you sons of b*tches tell me

what’s treacherous! Do you really think I haven’t heard your plans of wanting to use me as bait?
Here’s a plan B for you, then; why don’t you bring your mom and strip her naked in front of the
toad cave as bait instead? If the toad is happy, he might even give you a baby sister! I’m sure she
would look just like you, you goddamn toadface!”
Gradually, Hou Qing could be seen growing provoked by Fang Xing’s words. “Just you wait! If I
get you, I’ll make sure you know how to spell ‘misery’ properly!”
Without sparing a second thought towards Hou Qing’s words, Fang Xing continued his verbal
rampage. “Ya! And if I get you, I’ll teach you how to spell ‘pleasure’! You think I have forgotten
about what happened at the Recruitment Ceremony? I remember it all too well! How dare you
grab me then, I won’t ever forget it! Let’s combine your old and new debts together right now; I
promise you that I will have you crying for your mommy, or your new sister will have my face
instead of the toad’s!”
“So you’re that little monkey. I thought you looked familiar.” Hou Qing raised his eyebrow after
remembering who Fang Xing was.
—
NOTES
[1]Yang: as in ‘Yin and Yang’, Yang means the sun, or positive/masculine energy. While Yin
means the moon, or negative/feminine energy. Yin and Yang are opposing forces that would be
able to restrain each other when both are present.